Intentions to Marry, 1891

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840403, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole and Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

A few pages are missing due to focus issues.

The Archives NZ CSV index has recorded pages 765, 767 and 769 incorrectly as 795, 797 and 796.

Page 616

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 September 1891

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
29	29 July 1891	John Newton Bland Mayow Elizabeth Whiston Colway	John Newman Bland Rayner Elizabeth McWheaton Colway 💍 1891/1416	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Spinster	27 25	Masterton Lower Manaia	3 days 16 years from Manaia	House of Mrs Colway	91/2311		29 July 1891	Revd Robert Wood, Presbyterian Minister
30	30 July 1891	Fred Robert Wilson Elizabeth Johnston	Cecil Robert Wilson Elizabeth Johnstone 💍 1891/1396 James Theodore Wilson Elizabeth Watson 💍 1891/341	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Dressmaker	34 23	Masterton Masterton	3 days 6 Months	Mrs Nicholls, Queen Street, Masterton	91/2315		30 July 1891	Revd John Dukes, Wesleyan Minister
31	31 July 1891	Henry Louis Barrington Agnes Mary Jenkins	Henry Louis Ewington Agnes Mary Jenkins 💍 1891/1397	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright Dressmaker	23 19	Masterton Masterton	12 Months 12 Months	House of Mr Jenkins, Villa Street	91/2316	Mother	31 July 1891	Revd John Dukes, Wesleyan Minister
32	29 July 1891	James George Starkie Annie Wickenden		Bachelor Spinster	Engine driver Servant	27 23	Masterton Masterton	6 months 4 years	St Patricks Roman Catholic Chapel	91/2323		29 July 1891	Revd McNamara, Roman Catholic Priest
33	29 July 1891	Jacob Simmock Elizabeth Arthur	Jacob Simmock Elizabeth Arthur 💍 1891/1403	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Spinster	20 22	Masterton Masterton	2 years 3 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	91/2322	Father	29 July 1891	Revd John McNamara, Roman Catholic Priest
34	5 August 1891	Henry Rudd Maria Christmas	Henry Budd Maria Christiansen 💍 1891/1399	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Spinster	21 19	Upper Plain Fernridge	12 years 6 years	Office of Registrar	91/2318	Father	5 August 1891	John Bagge, Registrar of Marriages
35	10 August 1891	William Hay Mary Emily Burgess	William Hay Mary Emily Burgess 💍 1891/1414	Widower Spinster	Labourer Spinster	27 21	Masterton Masterton	18 months 3 months	House of Mrs Burgess, Flowerville	91/2309		10 August 1891	Revd Charles Murray, Presbyterian Minister
36	12 August 1891	Edward William Braggins Louisa Newnham	Edward John Braggins Louisa Wenham 💍 1891/1400	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 21	Masterton Masterton	6 months 4 years	Office of Registrar	91/2319		12 August 1891	John Bagge, Registrar
37	14 August 1891	Alfred John Johnston Agnes Fleming	John Johnston Agnes Fleming McFarlane 💍 1891/1417	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Spinster	25 25	Masterton Masterton	6 months 6 months	Presbyterian Church	91/2312		14 August 1891	Revd Robert Wood, Presbyterian Minister
38	18 August 1891	William Hankie Agnes Brick	William Hawke Agnes Buick 💍 1891/1418 William Aiken Agnes Blair 💍 1891/355 William McCabe Agnes Clark 💍 1891/324 William Kane Agnes Martin Gunn 💍 1891/3223 William Osborne Agnes Gray 💍 1891/1585 William Gillies Agnes Benfell 💍 1891/1697	Widower Spinster	Labourer Spinster	36 25	Masterton Opaki	3 days 1 year	House of Mr J. B. Brick, Opaki	91/2313		18 August 1891	Revd Robert Wood, Presbyterian Minister

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).